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posted by cmn32480 on Sunday June 11 2017, @10:12PM   Printer-friendly
from the writing-instructions-for-dummies dept.

fit-PC sells a box (the Intense PC) that is rebranded as the MintBox 2, which has Linux Mint preinstalled, with the Linux Mint project getting a cut of the profits.

Clement Lefebvre, the honcho at Linux Mint, notes[1] that the firmware has a security vulnerability which needs to be patched. Hilariously, the manufacturer's instructions call out a MS Windows-only tool.

[1] In the comments there, Clem responds to Kim, saying that Linux Mint has the tools available to get the job done. In the comments attached to a clickbait article at BetaNews, it was mentioned that dd (sometimes referred to as Data Dump), an app that comes with pretty much every Linux distro, will also do the task.


[Ed Note: The vast majority of fit-PC's products also come in Windows flavors. They are NOT a Linux only company. - cmn32480]

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 11 2017, @10:19PM (7 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 11 2017, @10:19PM (#523993)

    This has ALWAYS been a problem.

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 11 2017, @11:43PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 11 2017, @11:43PM (#524028)

    I miss reading those Microsoft help websites where MS techs only give you notebook scripted answers instead of getting to a solution. Q: "My mouse won't work" A: :First run your antivirus, then check for updates, then restart your PC, and if that doesn't fix it reinstall Windows.

  • (Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Monday June 12 2017, @12:25AM (1 child)

    by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Monday June 12 2017, @12:25AM (#524047) Journal

    This has ALWAYS been a problem.

    What, exactly, has "always" been a problem?

    -- PC firmware developers releasing a Windows-only patch? Yeah, that's been a consistent problem.
    -- PC firmware developers releasing Windows-only patches for computers marketed as being "Linux compatible" or even sold with Linux installed as an option? Yep, that's happened too.
    -- PC firmware developers releasing Windows-only patches for computer models specifically marketed ONLY to Linux users AND which contain the name of a Linux distro in their name ("MintBox") AND have a distro logo on the computer itself?

    Maybe that last one has happened before, though I haven't heard of it. You have to admit it's a bit of a more egregious issue than the first one, because the company is specifically modifying and marketing these models to Linux users.

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 12 2017, @03:22AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 12 2017, @03:22AM (#524104)

      You're tiresome.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 12 2017, @07:57AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 12 2017, @07:57AM (#524189)

    Garmin GPS - Windows only for updates.
    Canon scanner - Windows only software (slide scanning)

    Mac support, sometimes. Linux, sadly, an afterthought.
    We are after all, only 2% of the world 'market', but we are the 2% what make it happen and who know stuff. 98% sheep don't make it the right technology.

    These box-makers have a Win-centric process, and on the side as a favour, make a box pre-installed with Mint. But when the doggie-doo hits the BIOS fan, they only have one tool in their toolbox. So if 'dd' can be used to re-flash the BIOS, it would be good to see those instructions... from a trusted source. No "hey buddy just run this: sudo rm -rf / nohup &"...

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 12 2017, @08:56AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 12 2017, @08:56AM (#524214)

      But when the doggie-doo hits the BIOS fan, they only have one tool in their toolbox.

      Yes, and that's a bootable FreeDOS image containing both the BIOS image and the (DOS) tools to write it. The only Windows tool mentioned is one to write the image to the stick. Linux comes with the ability out of the box, so no third-party tool is needed there.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 12 2017, @08:22AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 12 2017, @08:22AM (#524195)

    Not always.

    When I needed to update the BIOS on my Pentium 4 motherboard, I got a DOS executable. I downloaded a floppy image of OpenDOS, which worked fine for the job.

  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday June 12 2017, @08:36PM

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday June 12 2017, @08:36PM (#524633)

    Nothing that a 8G USB stick won't fix.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]